What books should entrepreneurs read ?

A list of the best books for entrepreneurs, found in this topic:

Start Ups/Business:

• The Entrepreneur Mind: 100 Essential Beliefs, Characteristics, and Habits of Elite Entrepreneurs by Kevin Johnson
• Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel
• The 7 Day Startup: You Don't Learn Until You Launch by Dan Norris
• The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries
• Platform Scale: How an emerging business model helps startups build large empires with minimum investment by Sangeet Paul Choudary
• TOP 101 Growth Hacks: The best growth hacking ideas that you can put into practice right away by Aladdin Happy
• The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future by Chris Guillebeau
• Exponential Organizations: Why new organizations are ten times better, faster, and cheaper than yours by Salim Ismail
• Startup Idea Action Plan: Validate Your Startup And Get Customers in 7 Days, When All You Have is a Business Idea by Ryan Mulvihill
• The Startup Owner's Manual: The Step-by-Step Guide for Building a Great Company by Steve Blank
• ReWork: Change the Way You Work Forever by Jason Fried
• Craft Business Power: 15 Days To A Profitable Online Craft Business by Cinnamon Miles
• Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth by Gabriel Weinberg
• Startup Growth Engines: Case Studies of How Today's Most Successful Startups Unlock Extraordinary Growth by Sean Ellis
• The Magic of Thinking Big
• Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim
• The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy
• Good to Great by James Collins
• The Four Steps to the Epiphany by Steven Blank
• Contagious: Why Things Catch On by Jonah Berger
• David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell
• The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail--but Some Don't by Nate Silver
• The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz
• The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less by Barry Shwartz
• Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change, Second Edition by Joseph Grenny, Kerry Patterson, et al.
• The Art of the Start 2.0: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything by Guy Kawasaki
• Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days by Jessica Livingston
• The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries
• Rework by David Heinemeier Hansson
• The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber
• The Black Swan: Second Edition: The Impact of the Highly Improbable: With a new section: "On Robustness and Fragility" (Incerto) by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
• Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh
• Losing My Virginity: How I Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way by Richard Branson
• The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal by Jim Loehr, Tony Schwartz
• The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande
• The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future by Chris Guillebeau
• Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think by Kenneth Cukier
• The Fine Art of Small Talk: How To Start a Conversation, Keep It Going, Build Networking Skills -- and Leave a Positive Impression! by Debra Fine
• The Score Takes Care of Itself: My Philosophy of Leadership by Bill Walsh, Steve Jamison, Craig Walsh
• The Thank You Economy: Gary Vaynerchuk by Gary Vaynerchuk
• Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd Is Driving the Future of Business by Jeff Howe
• Where Good Ideas Come From: Steven Johnson by Steven Johnson
• The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing: A Guide to Growing More Profitably by Thomas Nagle, John Hogan, Joseph Zale
• Leaving Microsoft to Change the World: An Entrepreneur's Odyssey to Educate the World's Children: John Wood by John Wood
• The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding by Al Ries, Laura Ries
• Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? by Seth Godin
• The Black Swan: Second Edition: The Impact of the Highly Improbable: With a new section: "On Robustness and Fragility" (Incerto) by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
• The Four Steps to the Epiphany by Steve Blank
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey
• The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries
• Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant by W. Chan KimRenee Mauborgne
• Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers by Alexander OsterwalderYves Pigneur
• The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber
• Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age by Paul Graham
• Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely
• The Innovator's Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth by Clayton M. ChristensenMichael E. Raynor
• Warfighting by U. S. Marine Corps Staff
• Get Back in the Box: How Being Great at What You Do Is Great for Business by Douglas Rushkoff
• Googled: The End of the World As We Know It by Ken Auletta
• The Curse of the Mogul: What's Wrong with the World's Leading Media Companies by Jonathan A. KneeBruce C. GreenwaldAva Seave
• Planet Google: One Company's Audacious Plan to Organize Everything We Know by Randall Stross
• Spent: Sex, Evolution, and Consumer Behavior by Geoffrey Miller
• Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter ThielBlake Masters
• Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking by Andy Sernovitz
• Guerilla Marketing: Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business by Jay Conrad Levinson
• The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything by Guy Kawasaki
• Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy by Carl ShapiroHal R. Varian
• Do More Faster: TechStars Lessons to Accelerate Your Startup by Brad FeldDavid Cohen
• The Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuk
• The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book That Will Change the Way You Do Business by Clayton M. Christensen
• The Entrepreneur's Guide to Customer Development: A cheat sheet to The Four Steps to the Epiphany by Brant CooperPatrick Vlaskovits
• Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist by Brad FeldJason Mendelson
• The Monk and the Riddle: The Art of Creating a Life While Making a Living by Randy Komisar
• The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture by John Battelle
• The Little Kingdom: The Private Story of Apple Computer by Michael Moritz
• The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story by Michael Lewis
• Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days by Jessica Livingston
• Don't Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability (3rd Edition) (Voices That Matter) by Steve Krug
• Theory of Fun for Game Design by Raph Koster
• The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses, Second Edition by Jesse Schell
• Losing My Virginity: How I Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way by Richard Branson
• Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
• Primal Leadership, With a New Preface by the Authors: Unleashing the Power of Emotional Intelligence by Daniel GolemanRichard BoyatzisAnnie McKee
• The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas L. Friedman
• Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution - and How It Can Renew America, Release 2.0 by Thomas L. Friedman
• Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell
• The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell
• Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
• Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies (Harper Business Essentials) by Jim CollinsJerry I. Porras
• Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't by Jim Collins
• Good to Great and the Social Sectors: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great by Jim Collins
• How The Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In by Jim Collins
• How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas, Updated Edition by David Bornstein
• Essential Creativity in the Classroom: Inspiring Kids by Kaye Thorne
• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Revised Edition by Robert B. Cialdini
• The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron by Bethany McLeanPeter Elkind
• Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip HeathDan Heath
• Improv Wisdom: Don't Prepare, Just Show Up by Patricia Ryan Madson
• The Art Of War by Sun Tzu
• Crossing the Chasm, 3rd Edition (Collins Business Essentials) by Geoffrey A. Moore
• Inside the Tornado: Strategies for Developing, Leveraging, and Surviving Hypergrowth Markets (Collins Business Essentials) by Geoffrey A. Moore
• Marketing High Technology by William H. Davidow
• The Breakthrough Imperative by Mark GottfredsonSteve Schaubert
• The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene
• Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors by Michael E. Porter
• The Art of Seduction by Robert Greene
• The 33 Strategies of War (Joost Elffers Books) by Robert Greene
• Extraordinary Popular Delusions and The Madness of Crowds by Charles MacKay
• Term Sheets & Valuations - A Line by Line Look at the Intricacies of Term Sheets & Valuations (Bigwig Briefs) by Alex WilmerdingAspatore Books StaffAspatore.com
• Agile Estimating and Planning by Mike Cohn
• Dealers of Lightning: Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Age by Michael A. Hiltzik
• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni
• The SPEED of TRUST: The One Thing That Changes Everything by Stephen M .R. Covey
• Divide or Conquer: How Great Teams Turn Conflict into Strength by Diana McLain Smith
• CustomerCentric Selling, Second Edition by Michael T. BosworthJohn R. HollandFrank Visgatis
• Answering the Ultimate Question: How Net Promoter Can Transform Your Business by Richard OwenLaura L. Brooks PhD
• Behind the Cloud: The Untold Story of How Salesforce.com Went from Idea to Billion-Dollar Company-and Revolutionized an Industry by Marc BenioffCarlye Adler
• The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World's Greatest Manufacturer by Jeffrey Liker
• Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle by Dan SenorSaul Singer
• The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook: A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal by Ben Mezrich
• The Design of Everyday Things: Revised and Expanded Edition by Don Norman
• Think and Grow Rich: The Original 1937 Unedited Edition by Napoleon Hill
• High-tech Ventures: The Guide For Entrepreneurial Success by C. Gordon BellJohn E. Mcnamara
• Delivering Profitable Value : A Revolutionary Framework to Accelerate Growth, Generate Wealth, and Rediscover the Heart of Business by Mike Lanning
• The Stand by Stephen King
• The Structure of Scientific Revolutions: 50th Anniversary Edition by Thomas S. Kuhn
• The Silicon Boys: And Their Valley of Dreams by David A. Kaplan
• Essentials of Entrepreneurship : What it Takes to Create Successful Enterprises by TiE: The Indus EntrepreneursTiE
• The Small Business Start-Up Kit for California by Peri H. Pakroo J.D.
• Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation by Tim Brown
• The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That Is Connecting the World by David Kirkpatrick
• The Whuffie Factor: Using the Power of Social Networks to Build Your Business by Tara Hunt
• High Stakes, No Prisoners: A Winner's Tale of Greed and Glory in the Internet Wars by Charles Ferguson
• Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time by Keith FerrazziTahl Raz
• Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality by Scott Belsky
• How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
• The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits, Revised and Updated 5th Anniversary Edition by C. K. Prahalad
• Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams (3rd Edition) by Tom DeMarcoTim Lister
• Naked in the Boardroom: A CEO Bares Her Secrets So You Can Transform Your Career by Robin Wolaner
• By William C. Taylor: Practically Radical: Not-So-Crazy Ways to Transform Your Company, Shake Up Your Industry, and Challenge Yourself by -William Morrow-
• What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20: A Crash Course on Making Your Place in the World by Tina Seelig
• Get Noticed by Marcus TaylorRob Lawrence
• Mastering the Rockefeller Habits: What You Must Do to Increase the Value of Your Growing Firm by Verne Harnish
• The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding by Al RiesLaura Ries
• The Founder's Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup (The Kauffman Foundation Series on Innovation and Entrepreneurship) by Noam Wasserman
• Business: The Ultimate Resource by Editors Of Perseus PublishingPerseus PublishingDaniel Goleman
• Everything I Know About Business I Learned from the Grateful Dead: The Ten Most Innovative Lessons from a Long, Strange Trip by Barry Barnes
• Culture & Empire: Digital Revolution by Pieter Hintjens
• The Essence of the Church: A Community Created by the Spirit by Craig Van Gelder
• The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (Dover Thrift Editions) by Benjamin Franklin
• Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Tales from the World of Wall Street by John Brooks
• Rich Dad Poor Dad: What The Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! by Robert T. Kiyosaki
• Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?: Seth Godin by Seth Godin
• How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell
• Outliers: The Story of Success: Malcolm Gladwell by Malcolm Gladwell
• What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures by Malcolm Gladwell
• The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Thomas Ferriss
• The Success Principles(TM): How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be by Jack Canfield, Janet Switzer
• How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
• Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen
• The Talent Code: Greatness Isn't Born. It's Grown. Here's How by Daniel Coyle
• How I Made My First Million on the Internet and How You Can Too!: The Complete Insider's Guide to Making Millions with Your Internet Business by Ewen Chia
• SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance by Steven D. Litt
• Street Smarts: An All-Purpose Tool Kit for Entrepreneurs eBook by Norm Brodsky
• Strategy for Sustainability: A Business Manifesto by Adam Werbach
• The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis
• Who Says Elephants Can't Dance?: Leading a Great Enterprise through Dramatic Change by Louis V., Jr. Gerstner
• The Ten Faces of Innovation: IDEO's Strategies for Defeating the Devil's Advocate and Driving Creativity Throughout Your Organization by Tom Kelley
• Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the FinancialSystem--and Themselves by Andrew Ross Sorkin
• The Innovator's Dilemma : The Revolutionary National Bestseller That Changed The Way We Do Business by clayton m. christensen
• The Paypal Wars : Battles with eBay, the Media, the Mafia, and the Rest of Planet Earth by Eric M. Jackson
• Origin of Wealth: Evolution, Complexity, and the Radical Remaking of Economics by Eric D. Beinhocker
• Create Your Own Economy: The Path to Prosperity in a Disordered World by Tyler Cowen
• One Click: Jeff Bezos and the Rise of Amazon.com by Richard Brandt
• Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely
• The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic by Dan Ariely
• Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age by Clay Shirky
• Super Crunchers: Why Thinking-By-Numbers is the New Way To Be Smart by Ian Ayres by Ian Ayres
• The Curse of the Mogul: What's Wrong with the World's Leading Media Companies by Jonathan A. Knee, Bruce C. Greenwald, Ava Seave

What dirty business tactics do you know ?

Deceitful signs showing a shop is closing down, or liquidating all stock.

Everyone loves a bargain and ugly signs showing that a story is closing down and ‘EVERYTHING MUST GO’ or ‘CLEARANCE’ signs are the equivalent of click-bait on the high street.

I’m not talking about outlets or clearance stores, I’m referring to dishonest businesses using misleading tactics to attract customers.

Sports Direct, one of the biggest UK sportswear chains is known for using this dirty tactic on an ongoing basis.

All over shopping malls and city centers across the UK you’ll see closing down sales from Sports Direct.

Their strategy has been getting significant media coverage such as this article in The Daily Telegraph: How fair does Sports Direct play?

Last year, sales jumped 24 per cent to £2.7bn, and its pre-tax profits increased 15 per cent to £207m.

This, in turn, has helped its deputy chairman, Mike Ashley, who founded the business 33 years ago, to become one of Britain’s richest men. He is valued at £3.5bn, allowing him to buy Newcastle United and take a significant stake in Rangers Football Club.

Offering everything from camping gear and swimming trunks to baseball caps and footballs, it stocks most of the sports kit you could possibly ever want, all at bargain prices.

It’s all a big con. They’re here to stay and making a lot of money from bargain hunters (a.k.a. everyone).

Ugly window displays and ugly business tactic.

This article is owned by:

Daniel Buchuk, worked at BBC

How do I find a business idea ?

The best tip is to make sure you broaden your own horizon. Being able to draw on multiple experiences will make it easier for you to connect the dots and come up with new business ideas.

John Cutler's answer to How do I find a good startup idea provides 10 awesome tips to broaden your horizon. Exploring unknown territories should become your new daily habit. It is a way of living.

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3 exercises for idea generation

That said. There are various exercises you can use to find a good business idea. Below I am presenting three of my own top methods for generating new business ideas.

These exercises work best when you apply them to a specific industry and/or business environment. If you don't have any preferences, just pick one you find the most fascinating.

When doing the exercises consider to invite some other people to join the brainstorming. Multiple view-points allows for better ideas, as long as you structure the brainstorming properly. I recommend you to: a) postpone judgment, b) capture all ideas and c) follow the rules of hybrid brainstorming.

#1: Future tech trends

Apply a future tech trend to a current problem/your current job. What new ideas emerge from this? Currently many people are looking at 3D printing, Google Glass and drones, but don't forget to look at advancements in materials too. 

To make this exercise easier, I recommend you to use tech maps. Envisioning has several good tech visualisations you can download for free.

Example: Drones used by real estate agents to show potential buyers the view from a building before it is finished.


#2: Societal trends

Similar to the one above. Just look for societal trends instead of tech trends. This can, for example, be changes in values or demographics. Recently sustainability is getting a lot of traction. How would this influence your industry? And how could you profit from this?

To steer the exercise you can download a free trend map from What's Next (as a bonus it can also be used for the tech trend exercise).

Example: Made by Many  is working on solutions for isolated and lonely people. This is a growing societal trend and will surely bring a lot of revenue to successful solutions. Btw. read the blogpost titled, The greatest social challenge of our time is an ageing population, they wrote about their experiences - it is worth any minute


#3: Business model analogies

This exercise is maybe my favorite and one we almost always used at my previous workplace (Board of Innovation). The exercise simply forces you to apply aspects from interesting business models to your own domain.

To structure the exercise I recommend you first to (hybrid) brainstorm on aspects from one particular business model and only subsequently transfer those aspects to your own domain. Of course you can do multiple sessions. We would often brainstorm on 3-5 different business models.

When brainstorming aspects from one particular business model I recommend you to use the business model cards developed by Board of Innovation. You can download 30 examples for free here.

Example: Consider for example the army of startups copying elements from Airbnb and Uber.

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5 Alternative routes to business ideas

Of course there are plenty of other ways to find new business ideas. Below I share 5. Some of them less serious than others.

#1: Check online reviews

Read online reviews of products and services. In this way you find all the top problems/pains people experience with existing solutions.

Example: The easiest way to get started is probably through the book reviews on Amazon. Find your favorite book. Optimize it. And sell it on Gumroad.


#2: Look at micro task services like Fiverr

Check what people are already paying for through micro tasks services like Fiverr. Now set up a landing page and try to offer the same service through a different channel at a higher price.

Example: Read this inspiring story: How a 19-Year Old Started a Profitable & Scalable Business. 


#3: Monitor online communities and act fast

Online communities are not only great places for procrastination. If you bring along your business sense when browsing Reddit, Quora etc. you discover many new business ideas.

Obviously you can monitor relevant subreddits like /r/Shower Thoughts and Quora topics like Business Ideas. However, the most intriguing business ideas will probably come from more non-business related discussions.

Example: Read how Shirtwascash started from Reddit and eventually allowed the founder to Make $40k within Shopify's trial period.


#4: Search Twitter for ideas

The Tumblr Omg new app idea is satire. But as such, not a bad idea and certainly not a bad approach to generate new business ideas. 

Solving people's real problems and needs is always a good start when launching a business. And I am 100% positive that you will find many problems and needs by searching through Twitter.


#5: Experience sampling

Experience sampling is an interesting technique where you ask a (large) number of people the same question over and over again.

You can generate business ideas by continuously asking people what was there last annoyance (and how they solved it).

This article is owned by:

Kristoffer Tjalve, works at Board of Innovation

What is the best business I can start in 2017 ?

As you might remember, some intriguing headings like “2016 was the year AI came of age”, “AI was everywhere in 2016”, and “The Great A.I. Awakening” were all over the place in media last year.

Fair enough. In 2016, technology’s progress was sufficient to let even smaller companies take part in the AI development. Several universities started to educate students about AI’s possibilities. According to Ludo Ulrich, head of startup relations at cloud CRM provider Salesforce, this development is “creating a larger talent pool” of AI professionals, resulting in a much quicker innovation’s pace in 2017.

Here’s what he says on the matter: “Now that the true importance and impact of AI has been discovered and has become more accessible than ever before, 2017 will be the year where the knowledge that used to be possessed by a select few will now become imbued throughout the tech landscape — allowing for younger startups to truly innovate in the space”.

For many years, artificial intelligence has been regarded as an unreachable science fiction fantasy. And now it is our reality – machines analyzing behavior patterns and making predictions based on those patterns.

So what is the good news for you then?

AI will continue to gain solid ground in 2017 and startups will have more opportunities to make a contribution to further AI’s development. The current accessibility of AI will allow new players to diversify the startup arena with their brand new ideas.

Chatbot Startups

As everybody knows, a chatbot is a computer program which simulates a conversation with real humans through a chat interface.

This technology went totally mainstream last year, but there’s even much more to gain in 2017. “Thanks to AI, we’ve seen chatbots take center stage in 2016, and as we break into 2017, we expect this trend to spur even more innovation, specifically in the enterprise,” predicts Ashu Garg, general partner at Foundation Capital, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm.

For instance, Taco Bell’s TacoBot helps clients to make orders on Slack chat. Sephora lets their customers order on the messaging app Kik, and Ticketmaster has recently presented a new website chat widget – in other words, the examples are numerous.

Gartner forecasts that more than 85% of interactions with customers will not include a human being by 2020, and chatbots will be the AI’s weapon of choice during the next five years when it comes to customer service, according to researchfrom TechEmergence.

This way, more and more businesses are thinking of providing their customers with a personalized chat experience. This results in a chance for your startup. And you better be quick as in 2016, over 50 startups were building chatbots for the enterprise, according to Betaworks. We expect this number to grow in 2017.

Cybersecurity Startups

Cybersecurity was a frequent newsmaker in 2016 – just remember Apple’s iOS encryption dispute with the FBI or attack on NASA’s website. This year has been marked by major data breaches, bank heists, account hijacking, hacktivism, DDoS attacks – you name it. This panic has been caused by cyber-criminals as they are more tech-savvy and organized these days.

Results? Well, it’s evident! The percentage of Americans who said they were extremely or very concerned about cyber threats increased to 55% compared to 45% in 2015.

Thus, many professionals in this field expect some continued growth in the cybersecurity space in 2017.

“Companies looking to beef up their security defenses invested in software and other appliances. We anticipate businesses will start investing less in endpoint solutions and more in managed services that help them make sense of their existing infrastructure.” says Nate Locke, partner at investment management firm Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors

“Security is complex and hard to manage”, Locke continues, “In 2017 and beyond, we see the role of managed security service providers as increasingly important in helping organizations reduce the risk of a security breach.”

Cybersecurity will be one of the biggest AI startup industry trends. Undoubtedly, startups focusing on how to protect information from outsiders attacks will rise above the rest.

AR and VR startups

For lots of us, 2016 was the year of Pokémon Go’s craze. No wonder that augmented reality (AR) is on many people’s radar in 2017. Virtual reality (VR) is also something not to be neglected in 2017 and beyond.

All this year through, 30% of customer-oriented Global 2000 companies are expected to experiment with AR and VR in their marketing initiatives, IDC – the market intelligence company – predicts.

Here’s what they say: “Interfaces are the essential gateway to customer engagement and they are evolving much faster than many have anticipated.”

IDC expects AR/VR to reach global adoption by 2021 when more than a billion people will access apps, content, and data through an AR/VR platform. But VR won’t simply be a technology for entertainment. Today, VR is used in healthcare, entertainment, automotive, space industries among others. Next year, we can expect a much wider application of VR and it’s not just about gaming or entertainment.

this article is owned by :

Dmitri Koteshov, Creative Writer at SumatoSoft

How should I talk to people when I have nothing to say ?

One time my parents accidentally left me at church…

Maybe because I was the forgettable middle child but more likely because I didn’t talk.

I was a dreamer in school. I still am today.

Now we’re called introvert-extroverts. We love people but we also want time to explore the amazing adventures we have in our heads.

It’s fun there.

Maybe this is you, too.

Here are some things that made talking for me way easier. It’s also a helluva lotta fun.

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THE EASY

Say hi. A lot. I know…snooze. But it works.

I practiced saying hi with people that were forced to listen: Cashiers, waitstaff, retail people and pets. Good for me. Bad for them.

This kept me using my mouth and voice at the same time.

Talk shorter. Words used to pile up in my brain.

The next poor sucker to strike up a conversation with me was pummeled in an avalanche of words and disconnected topics.

Talking shorter means giving the listener time to respond.

Do interesting things. Be interesting by doing interesting things.

Us dreamers and intro/extroverts do lots of interesting things…in our heads.

Many times this leads us to believe we are interesting.

Then we get blind-sided by the dreaded, “So, what have you been up to lately?”

And it’s dreaded, not because it’s a bad question (I’ve learned to love it), but because we’re not doing anything interesting.

So get interesting. Enroll in that class, go on that vacation, knock out that bucket list item, do something…anything!

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THE SLIGHTLY LESS EASY

Ask good questions. Like others have posted, people love to talk about themselves.

So let them.

Start with good questions that call out the obvious. The obvious would be a positive mention that includes them:

• Anything new: shoes, shirt, car, house, baby, pet, vacations…
• Accomplishments: school, work promotion, license, fitness, health…
• Environmental: location, people, weather… Be careful with this one. It’s easy to complain. Instead, make an unpleasant situation fun. “Dang, it’s banana’s in here. I found the last parking spot. We should have taken the helicopter.”

Tip: Save deep questions like, “If you could meet anyone in the world, who would it be” for conversations that have matured that far.

Build up to that. Otherwise it will be forced and awkward.

Pay attention. When people talk, they are giving you TONS of great information about themselves.

Take this example: “We just moved from California to Texas. The drive was long and interesting. I’m excited but the kids will miss their friends. We’re excited about the new house though.”

Whoa…just look at all the golden conversation nuggets!

• “What was California like?”
• The drive was long and interesting? Tell me more!
• Kids? People love to talk about their kids! (Inside scoop: Nobody cares about your kids so change topics unless you want to torture people. It sucks because kids are more fun than adults…anyway…getting off topic.)
• New house? Where? New favorite restaurants around there? What’s there to do?

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ProTip: This is the fun part. Use the popular “yes and” improv lesson.

Whatever topic someone is talking about, “yes-and” it. Agree and amplify the conversation.

It keeps the conversation moving forward in a fun way. It sounds like this:

Them: “It’s hot in here.”

You: “I know!” [that’s the “yes and”] I should wear less clothes.”

Them: “I bet that would make you a hit”

You: “Yeah, they’d probably throw my ass in jail.”

Them: “You’ve always wanted a family reunion.” blah blah blah.

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Like with anything, you get good from doing.

This article is owned by:

Matt Bennett, Lifestyle Geek, Writer, Consultant & Entrepreneur